That other baseball movie is flailing about, but the adaptation of 3 Nights In August, Bissinger's Moneyball diss track and paean to Tony La Russa and the manly virtues of lineup construction, is moving along nicely. The nerds can't win.

Thornton, known to be a vocal Cardinals fan, will join Red Bird Cinema managing director John Loar in producing the picture. Writer-actor Kevin Pollak, La Russa and Bissinger will executive produce.

Thornton is known primarily as an actor and director, though he did produce one movie, the Tex-Mex romance "All the Pretty Horses," which he also directed.

There's a possibility he could take a role in the picture, but it likely won't be the La Russa part, Loar said.

Baseball projects like "Moneyball" have had a rough time in Hollywood of late, but the project's producers say they think "August" offers a refreshing take on the subject.

"There are a lot of baseball movies out there, and a lot of them are based on the won-loss component," Loar said. "What this does is go inside the day-to-day happenings of the locker room and how a manager thinks about all the decisions he has to make. It's going to be challenging, but Billy Bob has a good handle on it."

La Russa, Bissinger and Billy Bob Thornton. That's enough testosterone in one room to revive Sam Peckinpah. And just so you're clear: An ode to the technocratic brilliance of a baseball general manager? Get me rewrite, sweetheart. But an ode to the technocratic brilliance of a baseball manager? "Refreshing."